GIFT  OF 


GTRT 
24 


THE   ROMANCE  OF 
THE  CHEMICAL   ELEMENTS 


THEIR  HISTORY  AND  ETYMOLOGY 


BY 


IXGO  \V.  D.  HACKH,  A.B. 

College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Reprinted  from  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY,  July-August,  1918 


PRESS  OF 

THE  NEW  ERA  PRINTING  COMPANY 
LANCASTER,  PA. 


[Reprinted  from  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHARMACY,  July-August,  1918.] 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  CHEMICAL  ELEMENTS. 
THEIR  HISTORY  AND  ETYMOLOGY. 

BY  INGO  W.  D.  HACKH,  A.B., 
COLLEGE  OF  PHYSICIANS  AND  SURGEONS,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 

Revolution  is  everywhere.  Our  views  and  opinions  are  slowly 
and  steadily  undergoing  a  change,  not  .only  in  political  and  social 
ideas,  but  also  in  our  conception  of  the  material  world  surrounding 
us.  In  many  fields  of  human  activities  we  are  progressing  rapidly ; 
though  some  pessimists  may  predict  a  dark  future  for  mankind, 
there  is  enough  evidence  of  our  progress.  Philosophers  ask  often 
if  we  are  progressing  in  the  right  direction,  and  if  we  become  better 
people  by  travelling  faster  and  living  more  comfortable  than  ever 
before?  It  seems  to  me  that  we  are,  for  our  social  conditions  be- 
come better,  though  there  is  still  much  reforming  to  do.  For  a  stu- 
dent of  history  there  is  no  doubt  that  our  road  lies  toward  a  really 
democratic  state  of  cooperation.  At  present  the  world  war  is  para- 
mount in  our  interests,  and  we  all  feel,  or  should  feel,  that  our 
brothers  in  Europe  are  fighting  and  dying  for  the  progress  of  man- 
kind. There  will  result  a  better  world  when  the  power  of  autoc- 
racy is  diminished. 

But  aside  from  the  mighty  changes  impending  in  world  politics, 
there  is  in  the  peaceful  fields  of  science  a  great  revolution  df  ideas. 


382572 


Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {AmjJfyur'IJ>Ih8arm- 


TABLE  I. 
The  Atomic  "Numbers"  and  the  Periodic  System  of  the  Chemical  Elements. 


© 

58     59     6o 
Ce    Pr    Nd 

61     62     63     64     65     66     67     68      69      70      71     72 
Sa    Eu    Gd    Tb   Dy   Ho    Er   Tm'  Tm"  Yb   Lu 

© 

50 

5l 

52 

53 

54 

55 

56 

57 

58 

Sn 

Sb 

Te 

I 

Xe 

Cs 

Ba 

La 

Ce 

32 

33 

34 

35 

36 

37 

38 

39 

40 

Ge 

As 

Se 

Br 

Kr 

Rb 

Sr 

Y 

Zr 

© 

14 
Si 

15 
P 

16 

S 

17 
Cl 

©Ar 

19 
K 

20 

Ca 

21 

Sc 

22 

Ti 

© 

6 

7 

8 

9 

10 

ii 

12 

13 

14 

C 

N 

0 

F 

Ne 

Na 

Mg 

Al 

Si 

i 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

H 

He 

Li  .        Be 

B 

C 

22            23 

24        25        26        27        28        29        30        31        32 

Ti        V 

Cr       Mn      Fe       Co        Ni       Cu       Zn       Ga       Ge 

40        41 

42        43        44        45        46        47        48        49        50 

<T\ 

Zr       Cb      Mo                  Ru       Rh       Pd       Ag       Cd       In        Sn    j      ^ 

72        73 

74        75        76        77        78        79        80        8!         82 

Lu       Ta 

W                   Os        Ir        Pt       Au       Hg       TI        Pb 

82        83 

84        85                    86                    87        88        89        90 

Pb        Bi 

Po                              Nt                            -Ra       Ac       Th 

© 

© 

90        91 

92 

Th       Bv 

U 

This  table  shows  the  atomic  number  and  the  symbols  of  the  elements. 
There  are  in  section 

©  the  noble  gases,  electropotential  o,  forming  no  compounds, 

©  the  nonmetals,  strong  electro-negative,  forming  acids, 

®  the  light  metals,  strong  electro-positive,  forming  bases, 

©  the  heavy  metals,  electro-negative  and  -positive, 

©  the  rare  earth  metals,  weak  electro-positive, 

©  the  radio-active  elements,  weak  electropotential. 

The  first  and  last  column  contains  the  elements  of  the  carbon  family, 
which  are  enumerated  twice,  for  they  form  the  connecting  links  or  transitions 
between  the  different  sections.  Many  relationships  exist  between  these  sec- 
tions and  elements,  which  are  embodied  in  the  so-called  periodic  system.  Not 
yet  discovered  elements  are  those  indicated  by  Nos.  43,  61,  75,  85  and  87. 

So  often  in  the  past  experiences  of  mankind  have  theories  been 
created  and  abolished,  that  it  seems  to  many  an  observer  simply  a 
repetition  of  the  old  process.  Yet  it  is  more  than  that. 

I  need  not  go  into  the  details  of  the  history  of  the  conception  of 


AmjJ°y^gl8!rm-}     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  3 

an  element,  for  the  readers  will  all  be  familiar  with  the  changing 
ideas  concerning  it.  But  I  want  to  point  out  one  great  difference  in 
the  standpoint  of  modern  science  as  compared  with  the  Greek  phi- 
losophers. Since  the  introduction  of  experimental  research,  man- 
kind has  been  enabled  to  accumulate  a  great  deal  of  facts,  which  the 
ancients  did  not  possess.  Every  discovery  of  to-day,  every  technical 
achievement  of  to-day,  in  fact  every  new  invention  is  built  upon  the 
experiences  of  our  forefathers.  There  is  causality  in  the  material 
world. 

With  regard  to  the  chemical  elements  we  have  now  collected  and 
accumulated  enough  data  to  enable  us  to  say  that  there  are  92  chem- 
ical elements,  of  which  5  have  not  yet  been  discovered.  From  the 
results  of  modern  researches  on  the  X-ray  spectra  of  the  elements 
we  are  justified  in  ascribing  an  "  atomic  number  "  to  each  element. 
This  number  indicates  simply  the  relative  position  of  the  spectral 
lines  for  each  element.  But  this  number  increases  strictly  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  atomic  weight.  Table  I  gives  the  atomic  number 
for  each  element  and  shows  at  the  same  time  a  modified  arrange- 
ment of  the  periodic  system. 

Our  series  of  elements  begins  with  hydrogen  No.  i,  and  ends 
with  uranium  No.  92,  and  we  must  assume  that  under  the  present 
cosmical  condition  upon  our  earth  no  more  elements  can  exist.  For 
an  atom  of  uranium  has  become  already  so  unstable  that  it  decom- 
poses and  gives  rise  to  a  series  of  radioactive  substances.  And, 
though  there  are  some  indications  of  elements  lighter  than  hydrogen 
in  the  sun  corona  and  star  nebula,  we  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  elements  lighter  than  hydrogen  do  not  exist  upon  our  earth. 
Thus  we  have  our  system  of  elements  limited  to  92,  of  which  the 
last  12,  that  is  from  No.  80  on,  form  the  series  of  radioactive  ele- 
ments, whose  atoms  are  so  unstable  that  they  disintegrate  and  break 
apart,  forming  elements  of  lower  atomic  weight,  and  also  producing 
the  so-called  "  isotopes."  For  accuracy's  sake  I  have  given  in  Table 
II  the  disintegration  series  of  uranium,  thorium  and  actinium,  from 
which  the  isotopes  for  each  of  the  radioactive  elements  can  be  seen 
in  the  vertical  column. 

MISSING  ELEMENTS. 

The  five  missing  elements  are  those  with  atomic  number  43,  61, 
75,  85  and  87.  Of  these  the  element  61  belongs  to  the  rare  earths, 
as  seen  from  the  periodic  table  in  Table  I,  Nos.  43  and  75  are  ele- 


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ments  of  the  manganese  group  with  atomic  weights  of  about  98  and 
187,  and  properties  which  are  between  those  of  the  chromium  and 
platinum  group.  The  last  two  elements,  Nos.  85  and  87,  belong  to 
the  radioactive  substances,  and  there  is  the  theoretical  possibility 
that,  owing  to  their  great  electropotential,  they  are  not  able  to  exist. 
That  is  to  say,  the  periodic  system  requires,  e.  g.,  the  element  No. 
87  to  be  the  most  electro-positive  element,  more  electro-positive  than 
caesium,  and  at  the  same  time  unstable,  that  is,  radioactive.  It  is 
very  possible  that  such  an  element  has  so  short  a  life,  like  brevium, 
that  it  can  practically  not  exist. 

NAMES  OF  THE  ELEMENTS. 

Let  us  return  to  the  known  elements.  When  one  looks  over  the 
list  of  pretty  names,  one  naturally  wonders  how  they  came  about. 
And  indeed  some  of  them  have  a  very  interesting  story.  States 
and  planets,  colors  and  mineral  names  are  represented.  We  have, 
e.  g.,  Europe  in  europium,  France  in  gallium,  Norway  in  thulium, 
America  in  columbium,  Russia  in  ruthenium,  Germany  in  germa- 
nium, Scandinavia  in  scandium,  Poland  in  polonium,  Cyprus  in  cop- 
per. From  our  solar  system  we  have  represented  the  sun  in  helium, 
earth  in  tellurium,  moon  in  selenium,  mercury  in  mercury,  uranus 
in  uranium,  and  the  little  planets  or  asteroids  are  also  represented : 
Ceres  in  cerium,  Pallas  in  palladium.  The  mythologies  of  various 
nations  have  been  ransacked  and  furnish  us  iridium  from  Iris,  nio- 
bium from  Niobe,  tantalum  from  Tantalus  of  the  Greek  mythology, 
while  thorium  from  Thor,  vanadium  from  Vanades  are  taken  from 
the  Scandinavian  mythology. 

The  city  of  Paris  is  represented  in  lutecium,  while  the  Scottish 
village  Strontian  is  honored  in  strontium  and  the  town  of  Ytterby 
in  Sweden  has  the  unique  distinction  of  having  four  elements  named 
after  it,  namely  ytterbium,  yttrium,  terbium,  erbium. 

According  to  their  color  several  elements  have  been  named  from 
the  Greek  or  Latin  terms  :  color — chromium ;  white — silver ;  yellow 
— chlorine;  green — thallium  and  praseodymium;  blue — caesium  and 
indium ;  purple — iodine ;  red — rhodium  and  rubidium.  Many  other 
properties  have  played  a  role  in  giving  a  name  to  an  element,  as 
shown  in  Table  III.  There  is  a  certain  regularity  in  this  apparent 
disorder  of  naming.  For  instance  in  the  time  of  Lavoisier  the  ele- 
ments hydrogen,  nitrogen,  oxygen  were  discovered  and  named  by 


Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     (Am.  jour.  Pharm 


July,   1918. 


TABLE  III, 
Etymology  of  the  Chemical  Elements. 


Name. 

& 

P 

Etymology. 

In  Allusion,  in 
Honor  of 

Actinium   

Ac 

80 

Lat.  activus  =  active 

Aluminum  
Antimony  
Argentum  

Al 

Sb 

Aff 

13 
51 
47 

From  alumen 
Doubtful 
Gr.  argyros  =  silver,  argos=  white 

Alum 
Its  luster 

Argon 

A 

T8 

Gr  argon  —  lazy   inert 

Arsenic  
Aurum  
Barium  
Beryllium  

As 
Au 
Ba 
Be 

33 
79 

56 

4 

Gr.  arsenikon,  from  arsen=  male 
Hebr.  awr=  light   fire,  Lat.  aurora 
Gr.  fcarys  =  heavy 
Gr.  beryl!os=a  green  gem*  beryl 

Its  use  as  paint 
Its  luster 
Its  weight 
Occurrence 

Bismuth  

Ri 

83 

Arab,  w.-ss  ma  j  at  —  easily  melting  metal 

Fusibility 

Boron 

B 

c 

From  borax 

Brevium  

Rv 

OT 

Lat.  brevis  =short 

Short  life 

Bromine  

Rr 

It 

Gr.  bromos  =  stench 

Odor 

Cadmium 

Crl 

<\K 

Gr.  kadmia  ==  calamine 

Caesium 

Cs 

55 

Lat  caesius  =sky  blue 

Calcium  

Ta 

?o 

Lat.  calix   Gr  chalix  =  lime 

trum 

Carbon  

e 

6 

Lat.  carbo  =  coal 

Occurrence 

Cerium  

o 

S8 

Lat.  Ceres  =  goddess  of  agriculture 

New   discovered 

Chlorine. 

Cl 

17 

Gr.  ch'oros  —  yel'owish  green 

planet 

Chromium 

rr 

24 

Gr.  chromos  —  color 

Cobalt  

Co 

?7 

Germ.  kobold=  goblin 

compounds 

(See  text) 

Columbium  .... 
Coppei  

Cb 

Tii 

4i 
?o 

Columbia  =Amerc:'a,  columbite 
Gr.  Kyprics  =  Cyprus   Lat.  cuprum 

Occurrence 

Denebium  

T> 

60 

From  the  star  Deneb  (in  the  swan) 

(Didymium)  .... 
Dubhium. 

Db 

70 

Gr.  didymos  =  twins  (see  Nd  and  Pr) 
From  the  star  Dubha  (Great  Bear) 

Dysprosium  
Erbium  

Dy 
Er 

66 
68 

Gr.  dysporos  =  difficult 
Swedish  town  Ytterby 

Difficult  separa- 
tion 

Europium  
Ferrum 

Eu 
Fe 

63 
ofi 

Europe 

Europe 

Fluorine 

Fl 

o 

Fluorspar 

Gadolinium  . 

Gd 

61 

Gadolinite 

Gallium 

Ga 

-21 

Lat   Gallia  —  France 

Germanium  .... 
Glucinium  .    .  . 

Ge 
Be 

32 
4 

Lat.  Germania  =  Germany 
Gr.  glyccs  —  sweet 

Germany 

Gold  

Au 

70 

Doubtful 

Helium  

HP 

2 

Lat.  helics=sun 

Holmium 

Ho 

67 

Swedish  geologist  G   Holm 

chromosphere 

Hydrargyrum  .  .  . 
Hydrogen  .... 

Hg 
H 

80 

i 

Gr.  hydrargyros=  water  and  silver 
Gr.  hydrcs  —  water  gennao  —  produce 

"Molten  silver" 

Indium  .  . 

In 

4O 

ing  substance" 

Iodine    .... 

I 

e-j 

Gr  iodes  =I  violet  color 

line 

Iridium  .... 

Ir 

77 

Gr   Ir's  —  rainbow 

Iron  

Fe 

ff> 

Old  high  German  isarn  —  iron 

lutions 

Kalium  

K 

19 

Arab,  kali  =  ash  (potash) 

Krypton  

Kr 

36 

Gr.  krypton  =  hidden,  secret 

Obscurity 

Am.  jour.  Pharm.  j     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements. 


July,   1918. 


TABLE  3. — Continued. 


Name. 

ij 

C/2-^ 

JM 

Etymology. 

In  Allusion,  in 
Honor  of 

Lanthanum  .... 
Lead 

La 
Pb 

57 
8? 

Gr.  lanthanon=  concealed 
Doubtful 

Obscurity 

Lithium  

Li 

3 

Gr.  lithos  =  stone 

Occurrence 

Lutecium  .... 

T-ii 

7? 

Lat.  Lutetia  =  Paris 

City  of  Paris 

Magnesium 

Ms 

12 

Magnesite   from  city  of  Magnesia 

Occurrence 

ManCTanese 

Mn 

2< 

Gr.  manganidso  =  purify 

Use  in  glass 

Mercury  

Hff 

80 

Lat.  Mercurius  =  messenger  god 

manufacturing 

Molybdenum  .  .  . 
Natrium  

Mo 

Na 

42 
TT 

Gr.  molybdaina  =  lead  oxide 
Hebr.  nether  =  carbonate  of  soda 

Neodymium  .... 
Neon  
Nickel  .    .  . 

Nd 
Ne 

Ni 

60 
10 

?8 

Ger.  neon  =  new,  didymos  =  twins 
Gr.  neon  =  new 
Old  German  nickel  =  devil 

New-didymium 
The  new  gas 
(See  text) 

Niobium"  

rh 

IT 

From  Gr.  Niobe,  daughter  of  Tantalus 

Associated   with 

Nitrogen 

N 

7 

Lat.  niter,  Gr.  gennao  =  produce 

Tantalum 
Niter  producing 

Osmium  

Os 

76 

Gr.  osme  =  odor 

substance 
Smell  of  its  tet- 

Oxygen 

o 

8 

Gr.  oxys  =  sour,  gennao  =  produce 

roxide 
Acid-producing 

Palladium  
Phosphorus 

Pd 

T> 

46 
15 

From  planet  Pallas 
Gr.  phos  =  light,  phero  =  bring,  carry 

element 
Light-carrying 

Platinum  
Plumbum  .... 

Pt 

Pb 

78 
8? 

Span,  platina  =  diminutive  for  silver 
Latin  plumbum  nigrum  =  lead 

element 
"Little  silver" 

Polonium  
Potassium  
Praseodymium.  . 
Radium 

Po 
K 
Pr 
Ra 

84 
19 
59 
88 

From  Poland 
From  potash 
Gr.  Prason  =  leek  green  and  didymium 
Lat.  radio  =  to  shoot  rays 

Poland 
Occurrence 
"  Green  didym" 
Radioactivity 

Rhodium 

Rh 

4C 

Gr.  rodeos  =  rose  red 

Color    of     com- 

Rubidium 

Rb 

•?7 

Lat.  rubeus  =  ruby  red 

pounds 
Color  of  spectral 

Ruthenium.  .  .  . 

Ru 

44 

Lat.  Ruthenia  =  Russia 

line 

Samarium  
Scandium  

Sa 

Sc 

62 
21 

From  samarskite 
From  Scandinavia 

Occurrence 
Scandinavia 

Selenium  

Se 

31 

Gr.  selene  =  moon 

Associated  with 

Silicon  .  . 

Si 

T-4 

Lat.  silex  =  flint,  silicia 

telluriu  m 

(earth) 
Occurrence 

Silver  

Ae 

47 

Doubtful 

Sodium  

Na 

ii 

From  soda 

Occurrence 

Stibium  

Sb 

51 

Gr.  stibi  =  antimony  sulfide 

Occurrence 

Stannum  

Sn 

5° 

Lat.  stagnum,  stannum  =  tin  alloy 

Strontium  

Sr 

38 

From  strontianite 

Occurrence 

Sulphur 

s 

T6 

Lat.  sal  =  salt,  Gr  pyr  —  fire 

Tantalum 

Ta 

7^? 

From  Tantalus  (tantalize) 

Difficult    isola- 

Tellurium 

Te 

C2 

Lat.  tellus  =  earth 

tion 

Terbium  .      ... 

Tb 

65 

From  Swedish  town  Ytterby 

Occurrence 

Thallium  

Tl 

81 

Gr.  thallos  =  green  twig 

Green    line    in 

Thorium 

Th 

QO 

North  mythology:  Thor 

spectrum 

Thulium  

Tm 

69 

Lat.  Thule  =  Norway  or  Iceland 

Norway 

Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {Amji°yir'1^Ih8arm' 

TABLE  3. — Continued. 


Name. 

li 

P 

Etymology. 

In  Allusion,  In 
Honor  of 

Tin  

Sn 

5° 

Lat.  stannum  =  tin 

Titanium  
Tungsten  

Ti 
W 

22 

7^1 

Gr.  Titanes  =  half  gods 
Swedish  tung-sten  =  heavy  stone 

Occurrence 

Uranium 

u 

92 

Planet  Uranus 

Vanadium  
Wolfram 

V 
W 

23 
74 

Northern  mythology  Vanades  =  Frigg 
Old  Germ,  wolfram 

Occurrence 

Xenon    

Xe 

51 

Gr.  xenon  =  strange,  foreign 

"  The     strange 

Ytterbium  

Yb 

7T 

Swedish  town  Ytterby 

element  " 
Occurrence 

Yttrium 

Y 

39 

Swedish  town  Ytterby 

Occurrence 

Zinc  
Zirconium  

Zn 
Zr 

30 
40 

Germ,  zinke  =  prong,  tine 
Arab,  zargun  =  a  gem  stone,  zircon 

Crystalline 
structure 
Occurrence 

contraction  of  the  respective  end  products  with  the  Greek  gennao — I 
produce,  thus  water-producing,  niter-producing  and  acid-producing 
element.  Again  many  of  the  rare  earth  metals  have  been  named 
after  asteroids  or  other  stars,  thus  cerium,  aldebaranium  (or  ytter- 
bium), cassiopeium  (or  lutecium),  dubhium  (or  thulium  i),  dene- 
bium  (or  thulium  2).  Uniform  is  also  the  ending  for  the  halogens 
— chlorine,  bromine,  iodine ;  while  the  metals  end  generally  in  -ium, 
and  the  metaloxides  of  the  basic  metals  in  -ia. 

RARE  EARTH  METALS. 

The  rare  earth  metals  have  a  very  complex  and  confusing  his- 
tory, which  is  illustrated  in  their  "  family  tree  "  in  Tables  IV  and  V. 
The  first  column  gives  the  year,  the  last  column  the  name  of  the 
discoverer  or  rather  separator,  for  their  properties  are  so  alike  that 
their  separation  is  extremely  difficult.  Nevertheless  there  is  a  limit 
of  their  "  separability,"  though  some  chemists  proposed  theories 
that  there  were  no  limit.  The  reason  for  their  great  similarity  must 
be  found  in  their  atomic  structure  and  the  periodic  system,  for  they 
form  a  very  slow  and  gradual  transition  from  electro-negative  to 
electro-positive  elements,  and  thus  their  difference  in  electropotential 
is  very  small.  This  is  just  as  bridging  two  rivers  of  equal  width  in 
one  case  with  seven,  in  the  other  case  with  thirty-six  pillars.  It  is 
clear  how  the  distance  of  the  pillars  in  these  two  cases  would  com- 
pare to  each  other.  So  we  have  in  the  periodic  system  in  one  in- 
stance between  two  inert  gases  seven  elements,  which  differ  natu- 


Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  "» 
July,   1918.        » 


Romance  of  Chemical  Elements. 


rally  much  more  than  when  there  is  a  period  of  thirty-six  elements, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  period  in  which  the  rare  earth  metals  occur. 
In  the  periodic  system  they  form  a  group  from  cerium  to  lutecium, 
and  as  pointed  out  above,  their  difficult  separation  was  the  main 
cause  for  such  a  family  tree  as  Tables  IV  and  V  represent. 

TABLE  IV. 
The  Family  Tree  of  the  Cerit  Earths. 


Year. 

Discoverer. 

1803 

1839 
1841 

1879 
I885 
IQOO 
1918 

Ceria 

Berzelius 
Mosander 
Mosander 

Lecoq  de 
Boisbaudran 
Auer  von 
Welsbach 
Demarcay 

C 

> 

erium  Lanthanum 

L 

'           > 

,anthanum  Didymium 

Didymium  Samarium 

, 

Praseody 
J> 

i 

mium 
reodymium 

f 



Samarium 
Europium 
<*-            v' 

Number        58           57 
Symbol         Ce          La 
At.  weight  140         139 

59            60           61 
Pr           Xd            ? 
141          144         147 

62 
Sa 
150 

63 
Eu 
152 

The  platinum  metals  and  the  noble  gases  have  a  similar  history 
of  gradual  isolation,  as  Tables  VI  and  VII  show.  In  the  latter  the 
amounts  are  given  and  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  such  small  per- 
centages may  be  overlooked. 

HISTORY  OF  ELEMENTS. 

In  history  the  chronological  method  of  tabulating  facts  has  many 
advantages,  and  I  have  followed  it  here  to  point  out  some  interesting 
things  connected  with  the  chemical  elements.  Beginning  with  ele- 
ments known  to  prehistoric  man  (but  naturally  not  as  elements),  we 
will  select  a  few  interesting  ones. 

Carbon. 

The  discovery  of  fire  was  the  greatest  step  toward  civilization 
and  anthropologists  tell  us  of  the  mighty,  changes  which  the  cooking 
of  food  caused  in  the  human  features.  With  fire  primitive  man  be- 
came acquainted  with  carbon,  the  black  residue  of  incomplete  com- 


10 


Romance  of  Chemical  Elements. 


f  Am.  Jour.  Pharm. 
*•         July,  1918. 


bustion.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  all  Teutonic  languages  the 
word  for  coal  is  derived  from  the  same  root  "  kol,"  e.  g.,  in  German 
— kohle,  Dutch — kool,  Danish — kul,  Swedish — kol,  which  indicates 

TABLE  V. 
The  Family  Tree  of  the  Yttria  Earths. 


Year. 

Discoverer. 

1794 

New  base  in 

Gadolin 

gadolinite  of  Ytterby 

1 

1799 

Yttria 

Ekeberg 

1843 

Erbia 

Yttrium 

Terbia       .  Mosander 

No.  39—  Y 

At.  W.  88.7 

1860 

Erbia 

Berlin 

1878 

T 

~i« 

1878 

i  er 

Dia 

JJelai  ontame 
Mariqnac 

Erbia 

I 

Ytterbium 

1879 

Holmia 

Erbia          Thulia 

Cleve 

1879 

Scandium  Ytterbia 

Nils  on 

No.  21  —  Sc 

At.  W.  44.1 

1886 

Qarlnlininm 

Mariqnac 

Terbium 

1886 

Dysprosium 

Lecoq  de 

Holmium 

,  

Boisbaudran 

1907 

Ytterbium 

Urbain 

(aldebaranium)             (Auer  von 

Lutecium            Welsbach) 

-*  ''cassiopeium 

1916 
1918 

, 

> 

, 

> 

f          \ 

Denebium 
|    Dubhium 

r              >^              4r              4<              V 

Eder 

Number        64        65         66 

67        68         69 

70         71         72 

Symbol         Gd       Tb       Dy 

Ho        Er        Tl' 

Tl"       Yb       Lu 

At.  W.          157       159       162 

164       167       169 

170       173       i' 

that  coal  was  known  to  the  Indogermanic  tribes  before  their  pre- 
historic separation.  In  Slavic  languages  we  find  in  Russian — ugoli. 
In  Hebrew  we  have  gehl.  The  term  carbon  is  derived  from  the 
Latin  "  carbon  "  —  coal,  which  probably  comes  from  the  Greek  dp^w, 
arpho  =  to  char,  to  roast. 


Am'jutyr'igi8rm'}     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements. 

TABLE  VI. 
The  Family  Tree  of  the  Platinum  Metals. 


II 


Year. 

Discoverer. 

1741 
1750 

Native  Platina 

1 
Platinum 

1 

Wood 
Watson 

1 

1803 
1804 

Csm 
(tra 

ium    Irid 
ce)     (i-s 

mm 

5%) 

Smithscn  Ten- 
nant 

Wollaston 

Rhodium 

(.2-4%) 

Palladium 

(.1-21%) 

1845        Ruthenium 

(-2-4%) 
v-                 > 

, 

> 

I 

V 

, 

, 

Claus 

Number 
Symbol 
At.  W. 

44              45 
Ru             Rh 
101.7         102.9 

46               76              77               78 
Pd              Os               Ir               Pt 
106.7          190-9          I93-I          195-2 

Sulphur. 

The  next  non-metallic  element  which  primitive  man  knew  was 
sulphur,  which  occurs  as  a  mineral.  Its  present  name  was  given  to 
it,  however,  much  later,  and  indicates  its  combustible  nature.  It  is 
a  contraction  of  the  Latin  sal — salt  and  Greek  trvp,  pyr  =  fire.  Brim- 
stone means  "  burnstone."  In  chemical  terminology  the  prefix 
"  thio-  "  is  derived  from  the  Greek  Otiov,  Thion  =  sulphur. 

Gold. 

Among  the  metals  gold  has  been  known  in  very  remote  times. 
At  the  dawn  of  history  it  was  the  precious  metal  for  the  possession 
of  which  wars  were  fought  and  great  hardships  endured.  We  find 
it  in  the  oldest  Egyptian  hieroglyphic  inscriptions  and  in  every  an- 
cient civilization  it  was  known ;  e.  g.,  the  Egyptians  distinguished  two 
kinds  of  gold:  nub-en-mu  =  river-gold,  and  nub-en-set  =  mountain- 
gold.  The  first  kind  was  washed  from  river  sand  with  cloth  bags, 
which,  when  inverted,  formed  the  picture  for  the  hieroglyph  for 
gold.  The  first  figure  gives  the  older  form  of  the  hieroglyph,  the 
second  the  later  form. 

To  the  philologist  the  name  "  gold  "  offers  an  interesting  study 


I2  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {^jJ 

irt  comparing  the  different  languages.  The  Teutonic  languages  de- 
rive it  probably  from  the  Arabic  egala  =  shining,  for  we  have  in 
Swedish  and  Dutch — guld,  German — gold,  and  even  in  Finn — kulta. 
The  Romanic  languages  from  the  Latin  aurum  =  gold,  from  aurora 


o 


r  -  H 

V  J 


FIG.  i.  FIG.  2.  FIG.  3. 

and  the  Hebrew  awr  =  light,  fire,  e.  g.,  in  French — or  Italian  and 
Spanish — oro. 

Silver. 

Another  prehistoric  metal  is  silver,  which  occurs  more  frequent 
in  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  inscriptions,  indicating  that  it  was  more 
common  than  gold.  The  Latin  word  argentum  is  derived  from  the 
Greek  dpyvpos,  argyros  =  silver,  which  in  turn  comes  from  a/oyos, 
argos  =  gleaming,  and  is  connected  with  the  Sanscrit  arj-una  =  light 
and  raj-ata= white.  In  the  Teutonic  languages  we  have  in  Ger- 
man— silber,  Swedish — silfver,  Danish — solv,  Dutch — zilver,  the 
origin  of  which  is  doubtful. 

Copper. 

While  gold  and  silver  have  always  been  precious  metals  and 
their  use  by  primitive  man  restricted  to  ornaments,  the  first  metal 
to  be  used  in  implements  was  undoubtedly  copper.  In  tracing  the 
records  of  the  past  by  the  help  of  archaeological  remains  we  always 
find  a  certain  order:  first  the  copper  age,  then  the  bronze  age  and 
last  the  iron  age  (the  stone  age  with  its  several  epochs  is  naturally 
older).  The  oldest  known  civilization  is  regarded  to  be  the  Su- 
merian,  in  which  we  find  copper  as  "urud,"  which  then  became 
"eru"  in  the  following  Babylonian  civilization.  But  the  earliest 
record  of  copper  and  copper  mines  dates  back  to  about  4000  B.  C, 
and  tells  of  the  copper  mines  located  on  Mount  Sinai  and  worked 
for  the  Egyptian  king  Dyezer  of  the  III  dynasty,  for  there  were  no 
copper  deposits  in  Egypt.  The  hieroglyph  for  copper  was  the  pic- 
ture of  a  melting  crucible  (Fig.  3),  which  became  later  the  sign  for 
a  metal. 


Am']u°iyT'igli8Tm'}     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  ^ 

Chronologically  follows  the  great  Mycenaean  civilization  on  the 
Island  of  Cyprus,  3000-1000  B.  C,  where  beautiful  copper  imple- 
ments were  made.  Cyprus  became  the  distributing  center  of  copper 
for  the  Greeks  and  Romans.  The  Greeks  designated  it  as  xa^KO/s> 
KvirpLos,  chalcos  cyprios  =  Cyprian  ore,  and  the  Romans  as  Aes 
cyprium  or  simply  cuprum.  The  beginning  of  the  copper  age  in 
northern  Europe  is  placed  at  about  2500  B.  C.,  while  in  China  it 
came  relatively  later,  in  2200  B.  C.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  we 
have  various  evidences  for  the  theory  that  copper  came  before  iron. 
So,  e.  g.,  the  Iliad  mentions  copper  279  times,  iron  23  times.  The 
Odyssee,  written  much  later,  has  80  times  copper  and  29  times  iron. 
Iron  was  at  that  time  more  valuable  than  copper.  Another  evidence 
is  the  fact  that  the  Greek  word  for  smith  =  xa^Ke^s,  chalceus,  is 
derived  from  copper  =  x^0'?,  chalcos,  and  not  from  iron  =  o-iS^os, 
sideros. 

'Iron. 

Primitive  man  used  always  those  things  which  he  found^and  the 
fact  that  the  oldest  implements  of  iron  contain  a  certain  amount  of 
nickel  is  evidence  that  the  iron  supply  came  at  first  from  meteorites, 
for  no  iron  ore  contains  nickel,  while  all  the  meteorites  consist  of 
an  alloy  of  iron  and  nickel.  Iron  tools  had  a  very  high  value,  for 
the  metallurgy  of  iron  developed  much  later.  The  earliest  known 
iron  tool  is  the  one  found  in  the  Pyramid  of  Kephron  and  dates  back 
to  about  3500  B.  C.,  while  some  iron  pieces  in  the  Black  Pyramid 
of  Abusir  date  from  about  3000  B.  C.  Under  the  Egyptian  king 
Thethmosis  III,  at  about  1500  B.  C.,  the  iron  metallurgy  in  Egypt 
developed  among  the  priests. 

The  earliest  evidence  of  iron  in  China  dates  back  to  1900  B.  C., 
in  Greece  about  1000  B.  C.,  Central  Europe  800  B.  C.,  Denmark, 
Ireland  100  A.  D.,  northern  Russia  and  Siberia  800  A.  D.,  which 
shows  a  gradual  and  slow  geographical  spread.  The  making  and 
the  tempering  of  steel  is  described  by  Pliny  (23-79  A.  D.),  while 
the  knowledge  of  cast  iron  began  to  develop  in  the  fourteenth 
century. 

The  origin  of  the  name  iron  is  not  definitely  known,  but  comes 
probably  from  the  Latin  aes  =  ore,  with  the  ending  -arn,  thus  Indo- 
germanic  *  isarn,  from  which  the  Teutonic  languages  develop  the 
names.  Thus  in  Gothic — eisam,  Anglo-Saxon — isern,  old  high  Ger- 
man—isarn,  and  in  modern  German — eisen.  Dutch — yser,  Swedish 


14  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {Am*jJittr*,pJSrm' 

— iarn,  Danish — iern.  The  Latin  fer rum  =  iron  may  be  connected 
with  the  Hebrew  barzel,  as  the  Romans  became  acquainted  with  the 
metal  through  the  Phoenicians. 

Lead. 

The  first  indications  of  lead  are  in  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  in- 
scriptions. The  Greeks  knew  it  as  /u,oAv/3os,  molybos,  and  the  Ro- 
mans as  plumbum.  In  the  Old  Testament,  the  Veda,  Avesta,  and 
Iliad  we  find  occasional  mention  of  lead.  Dioscorides  describes 
lead  oxide  (litharge)  as  /xoAv/^Wa,  molybdaina.  The  Romanic  lan- 
guages derive  their  term  from  the  Latin  plumbum,  e.  g.,  in  French 
plomb,  in  Spanish  plomo. 

Tin. 

The  Egyptian  did  not  recognize  tin,  although  a  copper-tin  alloy 
was  known  as  early  as  1600  B.  C,  and  as  a  constituent  of  bronze  it 
is  of  a  very  ancient  use.  The  Greeks  know  it  as  Kao-o-tVepos,  kas- 
siteros,  and  the  Romans  regarded  it  as  a  variety  of  lead  and  called 
it  plumbum  album.  The  Latin  stannum  meant  originally  a  mixture 
of  lead  and  silver,  but  in  the  fourth  century  tin  was  designated  by 
it  and  the  modern  terms  derived,  e.  g.,  Spanish — estafio,  Portuguese 
— estanho,  Italian — stagno,  French — etain,  Dutch — tin,  Swedish — 
tenn,  German — zinn. 

Antimony. 

The  next  metal  to  become  known  to  the  ancients  is  antimony, 
for  it  is  claimed  that  already  the  Chaldseans  at  about  1000  B.  C. 
understood  the  preparing  of  metallic  antimony.  Its  sulphide  was 
well  known  in  the  Orient  and  used  as  a  cosmetic,  especially  for 
darkening  the  eyebrows,  the  Greeks  calling  it ,  o-n/x/u  stimmi,  and 
the  Romans  stimmi,  stibi,  or  stibium,  from  which  stibium  =  anti- 
mony is  derived.  There  is  some  doubt  as  to  the  origin  of  the  term 
antimony,  which  occurs  first  in  the  writings  of  the  Alchemist  Geber. 
Some  derive  it  from  the  Greek  avrt,  anti,  and  /xovaxos,  monachos, 
meaning  "against  the  monk,"  the  story  being  that  either  monks  were 
poisoned  with  antimony  compounds,  or  that  it  was  used  as  a  remedy 
against  leprosy,  a  disease  occurring  frequently  among  the  monks 
and  hermits.  Others  derive  it  from  the  Greek  anti  and  /xovo?,  monos, 
alone,  as  the  metal  which  is  opposed  to  being  "  alone."  Still  less 
plausible  is  the  explanation  that  it  is  a  contraction  of  Greek  anti 


AmjJ?yr',£h8arm'}     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  15 

and  Latin  minium  =  red  lead,  because  it  was  used  as  a  substitute 
for  red  lead.  The  first  extensive  study  of  antimony  and  its  com- 
pounds was  made  by  an  alchemist,  Basil  Valentin,  who  wrote  the 
famous  treatise,  "the  Triumphal  Chariot  of  Antimony,"  which  re- 
veals a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  antimony. 

Mercury. 

Cinnabar,  found  as  a  mineral,  was  well  known  as  a  pigment  to 
the  ancients,  but  its  constituent  mercury  was  unknown  to  the  an- 
cient Jews  and  early  Greek  writers.  Aristotle  and  Theophrastus 
( 400-3 oo  B.  C.)  mention  in  their  writings  vSpa/oyupos,  hydrargyros, 
from  vSwp,  hydor,  water,  and  apyvpos,  argyros,  silver,  being  prepared 
by  treating  cinnabar  with  vinegar.  The  Romans  know  it  as  hy- 
drargyrum and  argentum  vivum  =="  living  silver."  The  alchemists 
called  it  mercurius  in  allusion  to  the  messenger  god  Mercurius,  who 
with  his  winged  hat  and  winged  sandals  was  the  conception  of 
speed,  and  mercury  as  a  liquid  metal  was  very  speedy  in  its  escape. 
Paracelsus  (1493-1541)  used  some  of  its  compounds  as  a  remedy 
and  introduced  it  thus  into  medicine,  though  some  of  his  treatments 
were  fatal  to  the  patients.  Solid  mercury  was  for  the  first  time 
prepared  by  Braune  of  Petrograd  in  1759. 

Arsenic. 

Like  cinnabar  so  the  sulphide  of  arsenic  was  well  known  as 
orpiment  (Latin  auripigment  =  gold  color).  Aristotle  mentions  it 
as  eravSapoKr;,  sandarake,  and  Theophrastus  as  dporevwcoi/,  arsenikon, 
which  means  "the  masculine  one."  It  is  derived  from  appryvocov, 
=  the  color  for  man,  and  comes  from  apo-rjv,  arsen,  male  (Zend — 
arshan),  because  the  old  Greek  painters  used  the  sulphide  as  the 
color  for  the  sunburnt  faces  of  man,  women's  faces  being  painted 
white.  Among  the  alchemists  Albertus  Magnus  (1193-1280)  was 
the  first  one  to  prepare  metallic  arsenic.  The  term  is  represented 
in  many  old  and  modern  languages,  e.  g.,  Arabic — zirnakun,  Syriac 
— zarnika,  Spanish,  Italian — arsenico,  German — arsen,  French — ar- 
senic, Hungarian — arzen. 

ALCHEMISTIC  PERIOD. 

In  the  alchemistic  period  there  were  seven  known  metals,  which 
were  ascribed  to  celestial  bodies.  They  were  always  enumerated 


1 6  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {AmjJ°yr-JIh8arm- 

in  a  fixed  order  and  designated  by  the  astrological  symbols.     Thus 
we  have : 

O-3  5 

(i)   Sun,  (2)   Moon,  (3)   Mercurius, 

gold.  silver.  mercury. 

9  *  V  >2 

(4)   Venus,  (5)   Mars,  (6)   Jupiter,  (7)    Saturn, 

copper.  iron.  tin.  lead. 

To  those  came  at  a  later  date  antimony  with  the  symbol  of  the 
earth,  6, 

The  era  of  alchemistry  is  a  very  interesting  chapter  in  the  his- 
tory of  human  knowledge.  It  was  a  time  when  man  tried  to  im- 
press upon  nature  his  petty  theories  and  naturally  failed.  One  can 
follow  step  by  step  the  growth  of  chemical  knowledge  which  finally 
led  to  the  establishment  of  physical  and  chemical  laws  and  taught 
mankind  that  the  physical  world  was  governed  by  unchangeable 
laws,  which  man  cannot  alter.  Man's  position  to  the  physical  world 
was  thus  altered,  and  he  became  an  experimenter  and  investigator, 
who  could  only  try  to  find  out  those  physical  laws,  and  apply  them 
to  his  welfare.  While  man  failed  in  the  achievement  of  his  theory, 
that  of  transformation  of  the  base  metals  into  gold,  he  acquired  a 
great  deal  of  chemical  knowledge,  which  paved  the  way  to  the  rapid 
advancement  of  science  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  century. 
The  discoveries  during  the  alchemistic  period  were  always  acci- 
dental, but  some  of  them  of  great  importance  for  science. 

Bismuth. 

Among  the  elements,  discovered  by  some  unknown  alchemist,  is 
bismuth,  which  is  for  the  first  time  mentioned  by  Basil  Valentin  in 
1459  as  wismut,  and  described  as  a  bastard  of  tin.  Paracelsus 
also  speaks  of  wissmat  and  in  the  writings  of  Georgius  Agricola  we 
find  it  as  wissmuth  and  in  the  Latinized  form  bisemutum.  Accord- 
ing to  Koch  the  name  is  very  probably  derived  from  the  Arabic  wiss 
majat,  which  means  a  metal  that  easily  melts,  for  the  alchemists 
studied  eagerly  the  Arabic  writings  and  were  familiar  with  Arabic 
terms.  This  explanation  is  more  plausible  than  the  following  ones. 
Kluge,  e.  g.,  derives  it  from  the  name  of  the  oldest  bismuth  mine, 
"St.  Georgen  in  der  Wiesen  "  (near  Schneeberg),  and  connects  it 


Am.  jour.  Pharm.j      Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  17 

August,    1918.      f  vi  A/ 

with  an  old  miner's  term,  "  muten  " — to  go  prospecting,  thus  indi- 
cating the  metal  found  by  prospecting  "  in  der  Wiesen."  Mathesius 
tries  to  connect  it  with  the  German  "  wiesenmatte,"  and  its  older 
form,  "  wesemot "  =  a  cut  meadow,  which  shall  in  the  late  autumn 
present  the  different  colors  sometimes  observed  on  the  metal. 
Sanders  finally  attempts  to  explain  it  as  "bi-smut" — bei-schmutz, 
or  dirt,  as  it  should  be  an  impurity  of  other  metals.  The  last  expla- 
nations are,  however,  not  plausible.  Bismuth  or  wismuth  has  been 
often  confused  with  other  metals,  so,  e.  g.,  in  1595  Libavius  holds 
it  as  antimony,  in  1675  Lemery  thinks  it  to  be  zinc,  until  in  1739 
J.  H.  Pott  studied  its  properties  and  establishes  it  as  an  element. 

Zinc. 

In  the  form  of  alloys  zinc  has  been  used  by  the  ancients,  e.  g., 
Aristotle  speaks-  of  a  metal  of  the  tribe  of  the  Mosynoegy  obtained 
by  fusing  a  natural  copper-zinc  ore  aurichalcite,  and  Pliny  mentions 
that  the  mineral  kadmia  (calamine)  is  used  for  making  brass.  The 
German  word  for  brass  =  messing  is  derived  from  the  ancient  tribe 
name,  but  the  origin  of  zinc  is  somewhat  obscure.  Paracelsus 
mentions  it  for  the  first  time  in  1520,  and  as  he  was  deeply  inter- 
ested in  medicine  may  have  probably  derived  it  from  the  old  high 
German  "zinco,"  which  m.eans  "a  white  spot  in  the  eye,"  in  allu- 
sion to  the  white  color  of  the  metal.  It  may,  however,  come  from 
the  German  zinke  — prongu,  tine,  on  account  of  the  pronged,  crys- 
talline structure. 

Phosphorus. 

An  important  discovery  was  made  in  1669  by  Brandt,  of  Ham- 
burg, who,  in  his  alchemistical  experiments,  distilled  evaporated 
urine  with  sand,  and  found  a  substance  which  was  glowing.  This 
mysterious  substance  he  called  phosphorus,  in  allusion  to  the  morn- 
ing star  Venus,  which  was  often  termed  Lucifer  or  Phosphorus, 
the  first  name  from  the  Latin  lux  =  light  and  ferre  =  carry,  the 
latter  from  the  Greek  <£os,  phos,  =  light,  and  <£o/aos,  phoros,  =  bring, 
both  indicating  the  light-bringing  medium.  Brandt  sold  his  secret 
of  making  phosphorus  in  1677  to  Krafft,  who  exhibited  specimens 
of  the  mysterious  substance,  but  one  year  later  Kunkel,  and  in  1680 
Boyle  also  found  out  how  phosphorus  could  be  prepared.  In  1775 
Scheele  made  it  from  bones  and  studied  phosphoric  acid.  Schroet- 
ter  in  1845  discovered  a  modification  of  phosphorus — red  phos- 
phorus, and  Schenck  in  1902  made  orange-colored  phosphorus. 


iS  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     { 

Cobalt. 

Ghosts  and  goblins  played  always  an  important,  role  in  the  minds 
of'  the  medieval  man.  They  were  not  only  in  fairy  tales,  but  actual 
beings,  and  inhabited  different  places.  One  of  these  goblins  was 
the  German  "  kobold,"  which  was  a  spirit  of  the  earth  and  inhabited 
underground  places.  So  it  was  natural  that  the  miners  came  some- 
times in  touch  with  him.  One  of  his  deeds  was  to  cause  the  miners 
to  find  heavy  ores  which  looked  like  silver  ores,  but  which  produced 
no  silver  and  were  useless.  These  ores  they  termed  then  kobolt, 
and  we  find  them  mentioned  in  the  writings  of  the  alchemists,  Basil 
Valentin  and  Georgus  Agricola.  Then  G.  Brandt  examined  these 
ores  and  isolated  in  1733  a  new  metal  which  he  called  cobalt  after 
the  mineral. 

Platinum. 

We  come  now  to  the  time  following  the  discovery  of  America, 
when  the  Spaniards  began  to  explore  the  New  World  and  to  look 
there  for  mysterious  treasures.  Some  of  the  early  adventurers  no- 
ticed in  the  gold  fields  of  some  southern  American  districts  a  white 
metal  associated  with  gold,  which  looked  l-ike  silver,  but  was  not 
silver,  and  which  they  called  platina,  being  the  diminutive  of  the 
Spanish  "plata"  silver.  Antonio  de  Ulloa  travelling  in  1735  in 
Peru  refers  in  his  accounts  to  this  platinum.  In  1741  some  of  these 
grains  were  brought  to  England  by  Charles  Wood  from  the  gold 
mines  of  Choco  in  Peru,  and  in  1750  Sir  William  Watson  described 
it  as  a  new  metal. 

Nickel. 

Manifold  were  the  dangers  to  the  old  miners,  for  they  had  not 
only  to  encounter  bad  goblins,  but  even  the  devil  himself.  One  of 
these  devilish  ores  was  called  by  the  Germans  kupfernickel,  for  it 
looked  like  a  copper  ore,  but  on  roasting  it  released  poisonous 
arsenic  fumes.  So  the  name  given  to  it  was  nickel,  meaning  the 
devil  (its  milder  form  in  German  necken  =  to  annoy,  to  tease,  com- 
pare also  nickname).  It  was  in  1751  that  a  Swedish  chemist,  A.  F. 
Cronstedt,  examined  this  koppernickel  and  isolated  a  new  metal, 
which  he  termed  nickel  from  the  mineral. 

FOUNDING  OF  CHEMISTRY. 

We  come  now  to  the  founding  of  the  new  chemistry,  which  was 
accomplished  by  the  discovery  of  several  gaseous  elements,  e.  g., 


Am.  jour.  Pharm.j      Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  IQ 

August,   1918.      J  J 

hydrogen,  nitrogen  and  oxygen.  During  the  previous  time  the 
41  phlogiston  "  theory  had  developed,  that  is,  combustion  was  thought 
to  be  the  separation  of  some  element,  the  phlogiston,  from  the  burn- 
ing substance,  for  one  could  see  in  the  smoke  and  fumes  the  phlogis- 
ton "  going  off  "  and  leaving  the  substance.  When  oxygen  was  dis- 
covered it  was  thought  to  be  "  dephlogisticated  air,"  chlorine  was 
"  dephlogisticated  muriatic  acid,"  nitrogen  was  "  mephistic  air  "  or 
"  phlogistic  air." 

Hydrogen. 

The  first  of  these  gases  to  be  discovered  was  hydrogen,  which 
was  isolated  in  1766  by  H.  Cavendish  by  the  action  of  acids  upon 
metals,  and  which  he  called  "inflammable  air."  Later,  in  1781,  he 
showed  that  by  burning  of  this  gas,  water  was  produced  and  from 
this  fact  the  name  is  derived  from  the  Greek  v8o>p,  hydros,  =  water, 
and  yewaw,  gennao,=  to  produce.  There  is  evidence  that  the  al- 
chemists knew  of  hydrogen,  without  examining  it  closer,  for  Para- 
celsus (1493-1541)  mentions  that  a  combustible  gas  is  produced 
by  treating  certain  metals  with  acids,  and  in  1700  Lemary  recog- 
nized knallgas,  the  explosive  mixture  of  hydrogen  and  air.  Liquid 
and  solid  hydrogen  was  for  the  first  time  prepared  by  Dewar  in  1898. 

Nitrogen. 

In  1772  Rutherford  showed  that  only  a  part  of  the  air  could  be 
used  for  breathing,  and  that  the  remainder  could  not  be  used  for 
combustion.  This  he  termed  "  mephisticated  air."  Priestley  termed 
it  "  phlogisticated  air,"  and  Cavendish  in  1785  produced  nitric  acid 
by  passing  electric  sparks  through  moist  air,  thus  proving  that  nitric 
acid  can  be  produced  from  air.  He  gave  the  gas  the  name  nitrogen, 
from  niter  and  gennao,  produce,  meaning  the  niter-producing  gas 
( niter  =  saltpeter  or  potassium  nitrate). 

Oxygen. 

But  the  most  important  of  all  these  discoveries  was  that  of  oxy- 
gen, isolated  on  the  first  of  August,  1774,  by  J.  Priestley  (1733- 
1804)  by  heating  mercuric  oxide.  K,  W.  Scheele  (1742-1786), 
working  independently,  also  isolated  in  1775  the  gas,  which  he  called 


2o  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     { 

"empyreal  air,"  but  it  was  A.  L.  Lavoisier  (1743-1786)  who  devel- 
oped the  new  theory  of  combustion  and  termed  the  gas  oxygen,  be- 
cause he  found  that  many  of  its  combustion  products  were  acids, 
from  the  Greek  o£vs,  oxy,  =  sour,  and  yevraw,  gennao,  =  produce. 

Chlorine. 

Chlorine  was  discovered  by  Scheele  in  1774  and  called  "  de- 
phlogisticated  muriatic  acid."  Berthollet  in  1784  regarded  it  as 
"oxygenized  muriatic  acid"  and  in  1809  Sir  Henry  Davy  finally 
gave  it  the  name  chlorine  from  the  Greek  x^wp°'s  chloros,  =  yellow- 
ish green,  on  account  of  its  color. 

Manganese. 

The  manufacture  of  glass  has  been  known  for  a  long  time; 
the  Egyptians  already  understood  the  making  of  it.  Later  Byzan- 
tium (Constantinople)  became  the  center,  and  in  1289  the  famous 
glass  works  of  Murano  in  Venecia  were  founded.  But  the  raw 
materials  of  glass  (flint,  potash  and  lime)  contained  always  some 
traces  of  iron,  which  imparted  the  familiar  green  color  (in  bottles) 
to  glass.  This  green  color  was  destroyed  by  adding  some  pyrolu- 
site,  a  mineral  which  had  already  been  examined  by  J.  H.  Pott,  in 
1740,  who  showed  that  it  contained  no  iron,  as  was  supposed. 
Scheele  in  1775  recognized  it  as  the  oxide  of  a  distinct  metal  which 
was  isolated  by  J.  G.  Gahn  in  1780  and  called  manganese,  from  the 
Greek  /xavyavi^w,  manganidso,  I  purify,  in  allusion  to  the  use  of  its 
dioxide  in  the  manufacturing  of  glass. 

Tellurium. 

Another  mineral  which  puzzled  the  alchemists  was  called  "aurum 
paradoxum,"  or  "  metallum  problematum,"  for  it  looked  like  a  metal, 
and  did  not  behave  like  one.  In  1782  Miiller  von  Reichenstein  and 
in  1798  M.  H.  Klaproth  studied  this  supposed  metal,  and  the  latter 
recognized  it  as  a  non-metal  and  gave  it  the  name  tellurium,  from 
the  Lat.  tellus  =  earth,  as  it  occurs  as  a  mineral. 

Tungsten. 

Wolfram  has  been  an  old  German  miner's  term  for  a  mineral 
that  was  "wolfrig" — wolfish,  gluttonous  in  its  behavior,  for  .when- 


Am.  jour.  Pharm.j     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  21 

August,   1918.      * 

ever  it  was  melted  with  tin  ores,  it  looked  as  if  the  tin  percentage 
was  decreasing.  The  alchemists  gave  it  the  name,  for  we  find  in 
Agricola's  writings  "  spuma  lupi"  =  wolf's  stone.  In  Sweden  the 
mineral  was  known  as  tungsten,  from  the  Swedish  tung  =  heavy 
and  sten  —  stone,  from  wrhich  Scheele  in  1781  prepared  tungstic 
acid,  and  in  1783  the  brothers  d'Elhuyar  isolated  the  metal. 

Uranium. 

Sir  W.  Herschel  in  1781  discovered  a  new  planet,  which  was 
later  called  uranus  from  the  Greek  ovpavos,  uranos,  =  heaven.  This 
discovery  naturally  attracted  great  attention  and  as  M.  H.  Klaproth 
in  1789  recognized  a  new  metallic  oxide,  in  pitchblende,  he  gave  it 
in  honor  of  Herschel  the  name  uranium.  In  1841  Peligot  showed 
that  the  supposed  metal  was  in  reality  the  oxide  of  an  element. 

Titanium. 

Menachin  was  the  name  given  by  William  Gregor  in  1789  to  a 
new  element  discovered  by  him  in  menachinite  (ilmenite).  But  in 
1793  M.  H.  Klaproth  found  independently  from  Gregor  in  Cornwall 
a  new  metal  in  the  mineral  rutil,  which  he  termed  titanum,  deriving 
the  name  from  the  Greek  halfgods  nravc?,  titanes,  the  children  of 
Uranus  and  Gae  (heaven  and  earth),  in  allusion  to  the  element  dis- 
covered after  uranium.  The  pure  metal  was  very  difficult  to  isolate, 
but  in  1821  Rose  prepared  a  pure  titanum  oxide  and  showed  that 
menachin  and  titanium  were  identical,  while  a  somewhat  impure 
metal  was  prepared  in  1857  by  Wohler  and  Sainte-Claire  Deville. 

Zirconium. 

"Jargon  de  Ceylan"  has  been  known  to  the  French  jewellers  for 
a  long  time  as  a  gem  of  the  hyacinth  or  jacinth  kind.  It  derived  its 
name  from  the  Hind,  cercars,  Arab,  zargun  =  stone,  meaning  the 
stone  from  Ceylon.  In  a  variety  of  it,  zircon,  M.  H.  Klaproth  rec- 
ognized a  new  element,  calling  it  zirconium;  the  metal  itself  was  in 
1805  isolated  by  Berzelius. 

Yttria. 

In  1788  Arrhenius  found  near  the  Swedish  to\vn  Ytterby  a  new 
mineral,  which  was  later  called  gadolinite,  in  honor  of  the  Swedish 


22  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {Al\'uJ°gtr- 

chemist,  Gadolin,  who  discovered  in  1794  a  new  base  in  this  min- 
eral. This  base  was  in  1799  by  A.  G.  Ekeberg  called  yttria,  from 
its  occurrence  in  the  mineral  of  Ytterby.  Later  on  many  new  ele- 
ments, the  so-called  rare  earth  metals,  have  been  isolated  from  this 
and  similar  minerals,  yttria  itself  proving  to  consist  of  several  con- 
stituents, which  will  be  seen  from  Table  V. 

Beryllium. 

From  beryl  L.  N.  Vauquelin  obtained  in  1797  a  new  oxide  and  in 
1828  A.  H.  Bussy  and  Wohler  isolated  a  new  metal  which  was  called 
beryllium,  from  the  Greek  name  beryllos  for  the  gemstone,  which 
was  known  to  the  ancients.  Sometimes  the  term  glucinum  is  also 
used  for  this  element,  because  some  of  its  compounds  have  a  sweet 
taste  (Greek  glykos  =  sweet). 

Columbium  and  Tantalum. 

Governor  Winthrop  of  Connecticut  found  near  his  house  a  new 
mineral  which  he  called  columbite,  in  honor  of  America.  In  1801 
C.  Hatchett  recognized  in  this  mineral  a  new  substance,  which  he 
termed  columbium,  and  which  proved  later  to  be  a  mixture  of  co- 
lumbium  and  tantalum  oxides.  In  1802  A.  G.  Ekeberg  isolated 
from  the  mineral  yttrotantalit  from  Sweden  also  a  new  substance, 
which  proved  later  to  be  tantalic  acid.  But  the  character  of  these 
new  substances  was  not  recognized  until  in  1844  Rose  isolated  from 
a  columbite  of  Bavaria  two  new  elements,  which  he  termed  "nio- 
bium" and  "pelopium,"  from  the  Greek  Niobe,  the  daughter,  and 
Pelops,  the  son  of  Tantalus,  as  it  was  supposed  that  these  elements 
were  always  associated  with  tantalum.  R.  Hermann  also  isolated 
two  elements,  which  he  called  "  ilmenium  "  and  "  neptunium,"  from 
the  mineral  ilmenite  and  the  newly  discovered  planet  Neptune. 
But  his  elements  proved  later  to  be  a  mixture  of  columbium  and 
tantalum.  The  separation  of  these  elements  was  very  difficult,  and 
to-day  we  recognize  columbium  (or  niobium)  and  tantalum  (or 
pelopium).  The  name  tantalum  was  given  to  it  in  allusion  to  the 
Tantalus  in  the  Greek  legend,  the  son  of  Zeus,  king  of  Lydia,  who 
was  punished  by  standing  in  water,  with  beautiful  fruit  trees  above 
him.  His  thirst  he  could  not  still,  for  the  water  retreated  before 
his  mouth,  and  the  fruits  were  always  just  out  of  reach.  Accord- 
ing to  the  early  ideas  about  tantalum,  it  was  unable  to  "  satisfy  "  its 


An\uJus['  iPhi8rm'}     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  23 

thirst  for  acids,  for  it  could  not  be  neutralized  with  acids,  even  by 
an  excess  of  it.  But  its  isolation  and  separation  was  also  tantaliz- 
ing, and  its  evasive  nature  justifies  the  name  from  more  than  one 
standpoint. 

Platinum  Metals. 

The  platinum  ore,  respectively  native  platinum,  was  examined 
by  Smithson  Tennant  and  independently  by  Wollaston  in  1804, 
and  each  of  them  discovered  two  new  metals :  osmium  and  iridium 
by  the  former  and  palladium  and  rhodium  by  the  latter.  The 
names  are  derived  from  the  Greek  terms  of  some  of  their  prop- 
erties, while  palladium  is  named  in  honor  of  the  newly  discovered 
asteroid  Pallas  (see  Table  VI). 

Ceria. 

Another  new  planet  was  discovered  in  1801  by  Piazzi  of  Pa- 
lermo, which  was  the  first  one  of  the  asteroids,  and  called  Ceres; 
from  it  the  name  cerite  for  a  new  mineral  and  ceria  for  a  new  base 
found  by  Klaproth  and  independently  by  Berzelius  and  Hisinger  in 
1803  has  been  derived.  Like  yttria,  so  ceria  proved  to  consist  of 
several  other  elements  of  the  rare  earth  group,  whose  separation 
and  isolation  is  seen  in  Table  IV. 

Sodium  and  Potassium. 

The  salts  of  sodium  and  potassium  have  been  known  in  very 
remote  times  and  used  in  various  trades.  The  Egyptians  already 
distinguished  between  "  ordinary  alkali "  and  "  red  alkali,"  the  latter 
being  potassium  carbonate,  which  colored  the  flame  purple.  In  the 
Orient  sodium  carbonate  (and  potassium  carbonate)  was  known 
as  neter  or  bor,  and  it  was  mainly  gotten  from  the  alkali  lakes  of 
Egypt,  about  fifty  miles  from  Cairo.  In  the  Old  Testament  we  find 
(perhaps  the  first  reaction)  that  nether  and  vinegar  mixed  together 
are  effervescing.  The  Romans  imported  large  amounts  of  nitrum 
(sodium  carbonate)  from  Egypt  and  used  it  for  the  manufacturing 
of  soap.  From  nitrum  the  modern  terms  natrium  (sodium)  and 
niter  (saltpeter)  are  derived.  The  term  alkali  came  in  use  among 
the  alchemists,  and  is  derived  from  the  Arabic  article  al  and  kali 
=  ash,  for  alkali  or  potash  was  prepared  by  burning  of  seaweeds 
and  other  plants.  From  it  kalium  (potassium)  is  derived.  The 


24  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {An^uJ°str- 

Arabic  kali  =  ash  is  connected  with  kalaja  — to  burn,  and  is  also 
found  in  Hebrew  kalah  =  burning.  Marggraf  in  1758  showed  the 
analytical  distinction  of  sodium  and  potassium  and  in  1807  Sir 
H.  Davy  succeeded  in  isolating  the  metals  by  electrolysis,  thus 
introducing  electric  methods  into  chemistry  and  laying  the  founda- 
tion for  electrochemistry. 

Calcium  and  Magnesium. 

Like  sodium  and  potassium,  so  calcium  and  magnesium  were 
first  isolated  by  electrolytical  means.  Calcium  by  Davy  in  1808,  and 
magnesium  in  1830  by  Liebig  and  Bussy,  although  Davy  had  tried 
in  vain  to  prepare  it.  The  compounds  of  calcium  were  known  in 
prehistoric  time;  we  have  in  Latin  calx,  Greek  chalix  for  lime- 
stone and  chalk  (compare  calcareous  and  the  German  kalk,  Swedish 
kalck,  even  the  French  chaux). 

Magnesium  sulphate  was  known  as  epsom  salt  to  N.  Grew  in 
1695,  who  prepared  it,  and  magnesium  alba  was  made  in  1707  by 
M.  N.  Valentin,  while  in  1755  J.  Black  showed  that  magnesium 
alba  and  lime  were  different  substances.  The  name  was  derived 
from  magnesite,  a  mineral  found  near  the  ancient  town  of  Magnesia 
(modern  Manisa)  in  Asia  Minor. 

Between  1800  and  1850  not  less  than  twenty-three  elements  were 
discovered  or  isolated,  mainly  by  the  experimental  work  of  Davy, 
Gay-Lussac,  Berzelius,  Wohler  and  others.  It. was  during  this  time 
that  the  methods  of  chemistry  were  worked  out  and  the  foundation 
of  the  science  established.  From  Table  VIII  the  results  of  their 
work  can  be  seen. 

The  Spectroscope. 

The  new  science  was  aided  in  1860  by  the  application  of  spectro- 
scopic  methods  to  analysis,  and  as  a  result  several  new  elements 
were  discovered  by  this  method.  The  first  one  was  casiuni,  whose 
presence  was  detected  by  the  "  fathers "  of  spectroscopy,  Robert 
Bunsen  and  Kirchhoff,  rubidium  followed  right  after,  then  thallium 
by  Crookes,  indium  by  Richter,  gallium  by  Lecoq  de  Boisbaudran. 
The  names  were  mostly  derived  from  the  Greek  words  for  the  color 
of  characteristic  lines  in  the  spectrum  (see  Tablle  III). 

The  spectroscope  was  then  employed  as  an  aid  in  the  separation 
of  the  rare  earths,  and  many  "new"  elements  were  found,  which 
proved  later  not  to  be  so.  But  some  were  really  new,  and  are 
embodied  in  our  present  list  of  elements  (see  Tables  IV  and  V). 


Am.  jour.  Pharm.i      Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  2=; 

August,   1918.      J  J  mO 

Periodic  System. 

The  rapid  discovery  of  a  great  many  new  elements  stimulated 
not  only  the  study  of  chemistry  and  made  it  more  popular,  but  it 
also  enabled  the  chemist  to  systemize  and  compare  his  results.  In 
every  science  we  can  follow  the  gradual  development  from  collect- 
ing facts  to  systematization.  So  we  find  the  first  attempts  of  a 
classification  in  1829  as  Doebereiner  published  his  "triads,"  that  is, 
he  put  always  three  elements  into  a  group,  in  which  there  was  a 
certain  relation  of  their  properties  (e.  g.,  Li-Na-K;  Ca-Sr-Ba; 
S-Se-Te;  etc.).  This  idea  was  further  developed  in  1854  by 
Crookes,  and  in  1865  by  DeChancourtois.  In  the  same  year  the 
important  step  of  increasing  the  groups  was  taken  by  Newlands  in 
his  law  of  "  octaves,"  grouping  eight  elements  together.  Then  in 
1869  came  Mendeleeff  and  independently  Lothar  Meyer  and  an- 
nounced their  periodic  system!  It  is  often  said,  in  textbooks  and 
otherwise,  that  the  periodic  system  was  "  discovered."  But  this  is 
misleading,  as  something  that  gradually  develops  with  the  increas- 
ing knowledge  of  mankind  is  not  "suddenly  discovered,"  but  is 
"gradually  attained."  But  Mendeleeff  discovered  something,  and 
that  was  the  prediction  of  two  new  elements.  He  thought,  pre- 
suming the  system  was  correct  and  assuming  there  is  a  unity  and 
persistency  in  the  material  world,  that  some  elements  were  missing, 
and  he  calculated  from  their  assumed  position  the  properties  they 
should  have  and  called  them,  in  1869,  eka-boron  and  eka-silicon. 
Six  years  later  gallium  was  discovered  by  Lecoq  de  Boisbaudran 
and  its  properties  proved  to  be  those  of  eka-boron.  In  1886, 
Clemens  Winkler  found  a  new  constituent  in  argyrodite  of  Frei- 
berg and  termed  it  germanium,  and  its  properties  were  identical 
with  those  predicted  by  Mendeleeff,  as  eka-silicon.  These  predic- 
tions could  only  be  made  because  the  elements  were  near  those  ele- 
ments of  lower  atomic  weights,  and  filled  out  the  table  practically 
complete.  To-day  we  are  enabled  to  fix  the  end  point  of  the  ele- 
mental series,  viz.,  the  radioactive  elements,  and  thus  limit  the  sys- 
tem to  92  elements. 

Noble  Gases. 

Throughout  the  modern  development  of  chemistry  it  has  been 
believed  that  we  know  exactly  the  constitution  of  air  and  its  per- 
centage of  different  gases :  oxygen,  nitrogen,  carbon  dioxide,  water 
vapor,  etc.  The  announcement  of  Sir  William  Ramsay  and  Lord 


26 


Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {AlAUJUg['  ^|ri 


Rayleigh  in  1894  that  they  had  discovered  a  new  gas  in  the  atmos- 
phere, was  therefore  generally  accepted  as  very  doubtful.  But 
there  came  more,  for  not  only  argon,  but  in  1898  neon,  krypton, 
xenon,  and  later  helium,  were  found  to  be  constituents  of  air.  The 
percentage  is  very  small,  and  the  methods  employed  for  determining 
it  are  a  triumph  of  physics.  These  new  gases  developed  to  be  ele- 
ments, although  it  was  at  first  proposed  by  some  chemists  that  argon 
might  be  only  a  different  form  of  nitrogen,  just  like  ozone  is  oxygen 
gas  containing  three  atoms  in  the  molecule.  They  were  elements, 
but  no  compound  could  be  made ;  all  means  to  produce  a  chemical 
reaction  with  these  elements  failed.  In  fact  the  name  argon,  from 
the  Greek  term  for  lazy,  indicates  its  inertness.  The  difficulty  arose 
how  to  place  these  elements  in  the  periodic  system,  and  a  "  zero  " 
group  was  added.  Now  we  know  that  these  elements  form,  so  to 
speak,  the  "  missing  link  "  in  the  system,  for  they  form  the  transition 
from  a  highly  electro-negative  group  of  elements  to  a  highly  electro- 
positive group.  From  the  halogens  to  the  alkali  metals.  So  they 
became  of  great  theoretical  importance  in  chemistry. 


TABLE  VII. 
The  Family  Tree  of  the  Noble  or  Inert  Gases. 


Year. 

Discoverer. 

1772 

1774 

1894 
1895 
1898 

Air 
(1,000  liters) 

1 

Rutherford 

Priestley, 
Scheele,  etc. 

Ramsay  and 
Rayleigh 

Ramsay,  Cleve 

Ramsay  and 
Travers 

Ox3 

(209 

Nitrogen 

''gen 
.9!) 

Mtrogen                                     Argon 
(780.3!)                                      (9-4!) 

Helium 
(.004) 

Neon     Argon     Krypton      Xenon 
.012         9.4          .00005       .000006 

1       I       1      i      l        I        I 

Number           8              7              2           10           18              36               54 
Symbol             o            N            He         Ne          A              Kr              Xe 
At.  W.            16            14              4          20          40              83              130 

N.  B.    The  amount  of  each  gas  by  volume  is  given  in  parenthesis.    Thus 
1,000  liters  of  air  contain  about  0.004  liters  of  helium,  etc. 


AlAuJustr;  ?*£.m'}     Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.  27 

Radioactive  Substances. 

Following  this  epoch-making  discovery  there  came  another  one 
of  equal,  perhaps  still  greater  importance,  namely,  the  radio-active 
substances.  The  time  was  ripe  and  the  stage  set  for  this  discovery. 
It  came  after  physics  had  settled  down  and  declared  that  there  could 
no  more  be  anything  new  in  physics,  and  that  the  work  of  the  physi- 
cist simply  consisted  in  working  out  the  details.  Then  came  the 
discovery  of  the  X-rays  by  Professor  Rontgen,  and  with  it  an 
entirely  new  field  had  been  opened  up.  Everyone  began  to  work 
with  "  rays  "  of  some  kind  or  other.  Becquerel  in  Paris  studied 
especially  the  rays  emitted  from  uranium  salts,  and  this  led  to  the 
discovery  of  polonium  and  radium  by  Professor  and  Madame  Curie 
in  1898.  Then  followed  a  time  of  great  confusion,  for  everywhere 
new  radioactive  substances  were  discovered.  But  the  mystery  was 
increased  when  it  was  found  that  these  bodies  disappear.  For  in- 
stance Madame  Curie  had  separated  with  much  care  and  time  a  little 
sample  of  polonium  and  sealed  it  into  a  small  glass,  and  put  it  aside. 
After  half  a  year,  when  she  wanted  to  use  it  again,  it  was  gone. 
That  is  the  glass  was  there  all  right,  but  the  polonium  had  left. 

Many  experiments  have  been  carried  on,  and  many  ingenious 
devices  have  been  invented  and  as  a  result  of  the  new  phenomena, 
such  as  radioactivity,  cathode  rays,  X-rays,  etc.,  we  have  been  forced 
to  change  our  conception  of  an  atom.  For  practical  purposes  an 
element  still  consists  of  atoms,  but  these  atoms  are  also  built  up 
of  still  smaller  particles,  of  which  the  electrons  and  the  alpha- 
particles  (which  change  into  the  element  helium)  have  already  been 
isolated.  Our  atomic  theory  is  still  in  the  process  of  being  created, 
and  the  reader  is  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  tendencies  of  mod- 
ern physics  (or  is  it  chemistry?). 

We  have  in  this  way  followed  the  history  of  the  elements,  and 
in  Table  VIII  the  reader  will  find  a  chronological  arrangement. 
This  and  the  other  tables  will  serve  as  a  reference,  for  the  space  of 
the  text  permitted  the  writer  to  mention  only  some  and  not  all  of 
the  elements.  A  careful  study  of  these  tables  will  be  helpful  to 
understand  certain  movements  in  the  history  of  chemistry.  For 
instance  how  the  introduction  of  electrolysis  and  the  spectroscope 
resulted  in  the  discovery  of  some  new  elements,  and  how 'the  knowl- 
edge of  about  60  elements  assisted  in  the  formulation  of  the  periodic 
system,  for  these  60  elements  were  the  important  nucleus  of  the 


28  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {Aljug£tr> 

TABLE  VIIT. 
Chronological  Order  of  Discovery  of  the  Chemical  Elements. 


Year. 


Discoverer. 


Source. 


Preh:storic Carbon  Native 

Sulphur  Native 

Gold  Native 

j  Silver  Native 

4000  B.  C Copper  (Egypt)  (Mt.  Sinai) 

3500  B.  C !  Iron  Meteorites 

Lead 

1600  B.  C Tin  (Chaldaea) 

1000  B.  C Antimony 

300  B.  C Mercury  Theophrastus  Cinnabar 

Alchemistic  Period: 

1220 Arsenic  Albertus  Magnus      j  Orpimeru 

1459 Bismuth  Basil  Valentin 

1520 j  Zinc  Paracelsus  Zincblende 

1669 !  Phosphorus  Brandt  Urine 

Beginnings  of  Chem- 
istry: 

1733 Cobalt  Brand  j  Cobalt  ore 

1750 Platinum  Wcod.  Watson  Platir.a 

i75i Nickel  I  Cronstedt  |  Kupfernickel 

1758 Sodium  ;  Marggraf  j  Sodium  salts 

1758 Potassium  \  Marggraf  Potassium  salts 

Founding    of   Chem- 
istry: 

1766 Hydrogen  j  Cavendish  Acids 

1772 . |  Nitrogen  |  Rutherford  Air 

1774 Cxygen  Priestley  Mercuric  oxide 

Ch'orine  Scheele  Muriatic  acid 

'    |  Magnese  Scheele  Pyrolusite 

'    Barium  j  Scheele  Earyte 

1782 i  Tellurium  Miiller  "  Aurum  paradoxum 

'    ' Mo'ybdenum  j  Hielm  |  Molybdenite 

1783 i  Tungsten  j  d'Elhujar  j  Scheelite 

1787 |  Strontium  Cruikshank  Strontianite 

1789 Zirconium  Klaproth  Zircon 

Uranium  Klaproth  Pitchblende 

Titanium  Gregor  Ilmenite 

1794 !  Yttrium  Gadolin  Gadolinite 

1797 Chromium  Vauquelin  j  Crocosite 

!  Beryllium  Vauquelin  Beryl 

1801 Columbium  Hatchett  Columbite 

1802 Tantalum  Ekeberg  Yttrotantalite 

1803 i  Cerium  Klaproth  Cerite 

'    |  Osmium  Tennant  Platinum 

1804 Iridium  Tennant  Platinum 

'    Palladium  Wollaston  Platinum 

Rhodium  Wollaston  Platinum 

Beginnings   of  Ele  c 
tro  chemistry: 

1808 Calcium  |  Davy  Lime 

Magnesium  \  Davy  j  Magnesia  alba 

Boron  Davy,  Thenard,  etc,;  Borax 

1812 Iodine  Courto's  Sea-kelp 

1817 Selenium  Berzelius  Chamberdeposits 


1 

Am.  Jour.   Pharm.\ 
August,   1918.      ' 

Romance  of  Chemical'  Elements 

TABLE  8.  —  Continued. 

29 

Year. 

Name. 

Discoverer. 

Source. 

Beginnings  of  Electro- 
chemistry : 
1817  

Cadmium 

Silicon 
Bromine 
Aluminum 
Thorium 
Vanadium 
Lanthanum 
(Didymium) 
Erbia 
Ruthenium 

Caesium 
Rubidium 
Thallium 
Indium 
Gallium 

Terbia 
Ytterbia 
Holmium 
Thulium 
Samarium 

Scandium 
Gadolinium 
Dysprosium 

Praseodym 
Neodym 
Germanium 
Fluorine 

Argon 
Helium 
Neon 
Krypton 
Xenon 
Polonium 
Radium 

Actinium 
Europium 
Lutecium 
Brevium 
Denebium 
Dubhium 

Strohmeyer,  Her- 
man 
Berzelius 
Balard 
Wohler 
Berzelius 
Sefstrom 
Mosander 
Mosander 
Mcsander 
Claus 

Bunsen 
Bunsen 
Crookes 
Reich,  Richter 
Lecoq  de  Bo'sbau- 
dran 
Delafontaine 
Mariqnac 
Soret 
Cleve 
Lecoq  de  Boisbau- 
dran 
Xilson 
Mariqnac 
Lecoq  de  Boisbau- 
dran 
Auer  von  Welsbach 
Auer  von  Welsbach 
Winkler 
Moissan 

Ramsay  &  Rayleigh 
Cleve,  Ramsay 
Ramsay  &  Travers 
Ramsay  &  Travers 
Ramsay  &  Travers 
Curie 
Curie,  Bemont, 
Schmidt 
Debierne,  Giesel 
Demarcay 
Urbain 
Fa  jans 
Eder 
Eder 

Zincblende 

Flint  quartz 
Sea-water 
Alum 
Thorite 
Iron  s'.ag 
Cerite 
Cerite 
Cerite 
Platina 

Mineral  water 
Mineral  water 
Chamber  deposits 
Zincblende 
Zincb'ende 

Cerium  minera's 
Cerium  minerals 
Cerium  minerals 
Cerium  minerals 
Samarscite 

Cerite 
Samarscite 
Holmia 

Didymia 
Didymia 
Argyrodite 
Hydrofluoric  acid 

Air 
Cleveite,  uranie 
Air 
Air 
Air 

Pitchblende 

Thorium  ores 
Samarium 
Ytterbium 
Uranium 
Thulium 
Thulium 

1827 

1826  
1827  
1828 

1830  

1839  

1841  

1847 

1845  
Beginnings  of  Spec- 
troscopy  : 
1860   

1861  

1863.  

1875  
1878 

1879  

1880  
1886 

«. 

«« 

« 

Modern  Chemistry  : 
1894 

1895    .  .  . 

1898  

it 

"    '.'.'.'.'.'.'.]'.'. 

1900  

1007 

1913  
1916   . 

30  Romance  of  Chemical  Elements.     {AnAUJ°gtr- 

system.  To-day  the  study  of  the  periodic  relationship  among  the 
elements  will  help  us  to  solve  our  present  problem :  the  constitution 
of  the  atom,  for  we  have  now  with  the  noble  gases  a  continuous  line 
of  elements,  while  the  radioactive  elements  indicate  the  end  of  the 
line,  so  that  we  are  entitled  to  believe  our  system  to  be  complete. 

The  romance  of  the  chemical  elements  is  fascinating,  and  while 
I  am  doubtful  if  I  have  made  the  subject  interesting  to  the  reader,  I 
will  be  satisfied  if  I  succeeded  in  pointing  out  how  knowledge  grows, 
and  how,  by  the  labors  of  our  ancestors,  we  are  enabled  to  lift  the 
veil  of  the  mysteries  of  nature  and  apply  the  natural  laws  for  the 
welfare  of  mankind. 


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